Portable hoists



w, T. GRAN Er April 26, 195

v PORTABLE HOISTS 2 Sheets-Shaw 1 Filed July 1953 INVENTOR. WILL/AM GRAN 'W/LL/AM GRAN JR April 26, 1955 w. T. GRAN ETAL 2,707,063

PORTABLE HOISTS Filed July 2, 19 55 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ma l? WILL IAM 7T GRAN WILL/AM 7.' GRAN JR fs sgys IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent PORTABLE HOISTS William T. Gran and William T. Gran, Jr., Perrysburg, Ohio Application July 2, 1953, Serial No. 365,761

2 Claims. (Cl. 214-674) This invention relates to hoists and in particular to hoists which are incorporated with motor vehicles and adapted to pick up loads from and to deposit loads upon uneven ground.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide hoisting mechanism which can be shifted for transportation into condition in which it is not liable to strike overhanging obstacles such as branches of trees and in which it will pass under bridges having sufficient clearance for ordinary loaded vehicles.

Another object of the invention is to provide hoisting mechanism which can be shifted for transportation into condition in which it is stable and rides well, and is not liable to tip over when going around curves or along terrain which slopes sidewise.

Another object is to provide a hoisting mechanism having a fork which can be tilted laterally and the tines of which can be pointed somewhat downwardly to facilitate sliding the fork under loads lying on uneven ground and which can then be releveled laterally and the forks pointed somewhat'upwardly to minimize the hazard that the load may slide or topple off when it is hoisted.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description illustrated by the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. I is a side elevational view showing the hoist of our invention incorporated in a motor vehicle parts of which are broken away, the hoisting mechanism being shown in condition for transportation in full lines and in hoisting condition in dash lines.

Fig. If is a rear elevational view on a reduced scale showing in full lines the hoist tilted laterally in one direction and in dash lines the hoist tilted laterally in another direction.

Fig. III is a fragmentary view in perspective on an enlarged scale showing the means for tilting the hoist laterally.

Fig. IV is a fragmentary side elevational view showing in full lines the means for pointing the fork tines somewhat downwardly or upwardly the parts being shown in full lines with the tines level and in dash lines with the tines pointed somewhat upwardly, and

Fig. V is a fragmentary view in perspective on,an enlarged scale showing details of a carriage carrying the fork.

The vehicle illustrated is a familiar form of light truck having wheels 1, a body 2 and a cab 3. The rear portion of the body 2 is shaped like a box with its top and rear end open.

Secured upon the floor 4 of the box-like rear portion of the truck body is a base 5, preferably fabricated of structural steel, and secured to the forward end of the base 5 are two posts 6 the upper ends of which are bridged by a beam 7. The posts 6 and the beam 7 preferably also are made of structural steel.

A pair of channel section uprights 8 and 9 are welded or otherwise rigidly fastened to the base 5 and their rigidity in their upright positions is augmented by braces 10 and 11.

A hinge block 12 is pivoted at the upper end of the upright 8 for slight lateral tilting about a pintle 13 and one end of a shaft 14 is mounted in the hinge block 12 for fore and aft rocking movement.

Slidably mounted on the other upright 9 is a head which carries a second hinge block 16 at its upper end and the other end of the shaft 14 is rockably mounted in this second hinge block 16. The head is positioned by means of a vertically extending hydraulic cylinder 17 and plunger, the cylinder 17 being fixed to the upright 9, a plunger rod 18 emerging from the upper end of the cylinder being fastened to the slidable head 15.

A pair of struts 19 extend from the shaft 14 to a pair of continuous unjointed rails 20, to which the struts 19 are fixed. The rails 20 are of channel section with their channels opening inwardly. They are tied together at their forward ends by a crossbar 21 and are tied together at points between the struts 19 and their rear ends by a crosspiece 22. The struts 19, rails 20, crossbar 21 and crosspiece 22 constitute a rigid frame which can be swung about the axis of the shaft 14 from a position in which the rails 20 are substantially horizontal and rest upon the beam 7, and overlie the cab 3, as shown in full lines in Fig. I, to a position in which the rails 20 are substantially vertical, as shown in dash lines in Fig. I.

A horizontally extending hydraulic cylinder 23 is fixed to the base 5 and its plunger is universally pivoted to a connecting rod 24 which has a clevis 2-5 fixed upon its rear end.

When the rails 20 are swung into the nearly vertical position in which they are shown in dash lines in Fig. I and in full lines in Fig. IV a clevis pin may be inserted in registering holes in the clevis 25 and the crosspiece 22 so that the fore and aft angle at which the rails stand is controlled by the positioning of the plunger in the horizontally extending cylinder 23.

Likewise the lateral angle at which the rails stand is controlled by the positioning of the plunger in the vertically extending cylinder 17. The cylinders 17 and 23 are connected by tubes 26, 27, 28 and 29 to two-way valves and a motor operated pump. The valves and pump are located adjacent the driver's seat and are of well known commercially available types. Since the means for supplying fluid to the ends of the cylinders are not per se of the applicants invention they are not shown.

Mounted for movement along the rails 20 is a carriage 30 having three axles 31 which extend from one rail 20 to the other and have rollers 32 journalled on their extremities. The rollers 32 travel along the channels of the rails 20 to lower and elevate the fork 33. Even though the carriage 30 be lowered to such an extent that the lowermost roller 32 emerges from the bottoms of the channels the middle and upper rollers keep the fork 33 properly oriented with its tines substantially perpendicular to the rails.

The carriage 30 and fork 33 are lowered and raised by a cable 34 one end of which is fastened to the carriage and the other end of which is wrapped around the drum of a winch 35 which is turned by means of a sprocket chain 36 that is rotated by a reversible motor 37 of well known commercial type bolted upon the base 5.

A bight of the cable 34 takes over a pulley 38 supported by the crossbar 21. When the winch 35 is turned to wind up the cable 34, the carriage 30 is pulled up and whatever load is borne by the fork 33 is hoisted. When the winch 35 turns to permit the cable 34 to unwind, the carriage descends and the fork, with any load borne thereby, is lowered.

When the rails 20 are swung to a position overlying the cab 3 the cable 34 is held up by the beam 7, as shown in Fig. I, and thus is prevented from damaging the cab.

The fork tines are so mounted upon the lowermost axle 31 that they can be turned up to lie between the rails 20 so that they will not project upwardly when the rails are swung to horizontal position. Strongly braced stops 38, however, prevent the tines from turning downwardly under load. When the tines are turned up between the rails they can be held there by a centrally pivoted bar 39.

When the rails 20 are resting upon the beam 7 they can be held against bouncing by an ordinary hook fastener (not shown).

Operation The portable hoist of our invention is particularly useful for handling articles such as beehives; bales, boxes and crates which are to be deposited upon or removed from uneven ground.

To place beehives, for example, in a field they are loaded into a transporting truck in tiers of two or more with a pallet under each tier. (A pallet consists of a pair of 2 x 4 pieces of wood attached in sled runner fashion to a small platform which supports the article or articles to be handled.) When the truck and the portable hoist arrive in the field where the hives are to be left the portable hoist is made ready by swinging the rails 30 into vertical position and elevating the fork to a level just above that of the transporting truck floor. The hoist vehicle then is backed toward the rear of the transporting truck to insert the fork tines under a pallet. If the floors of the transporting truck body and the hoist vehicle body are not parallel the rails 20 may be tilted laterally and backward or forward to adjust the plane of the tines into substantial parallelism with the plane of the pallet under which they are to be inserted.

With the tines beneath the pallet, they may be tilted up to cradle the load and obviate any tendency that it may have to slide off of the fork.

The load then is hoisted slightly by winding action of the winch 36 and the hoist vehicle moves to locate the hives above the spot on which they are to be left. The carriage then is lowered to deposit the pallet upon the ground. If the ground is uneven the fork 33 may be brought into substantial parallelism with it by tilting the rails 20 laterally before the pallet touches the ground and then tilting them backward until the pallet is solidly in place. The fork then is lowered slightly more to free it from the pallet, whereupon the hoist vehicle is moved forward and the fork thus is withdrawn.

To pick up a tier of hives standing upon a pallet: the hoist vehicle is backed to a position with the tines pointing toward the load from an open end of the pallet; the fork is lowered to just above the ground; the rails 20 are tilted sidewise if necessary to preposition the tines to that both of them will enter the space beneath the pallet when the hoist vehicle is backed, the rails being tilted back if necessary to further lower the points of the tines; the hoist vehicle is backed; the rails are tilted forwardly to cradle the load and obviate any tendency that it may have to slide 011? the fork; and the load is hoisted off the ground.

The load then is carried by the fork to a transporting truck or to another location where it is deposited after having been hoisted or lowered to a level somewhat above that which it is finally to assume; moved above its final resting place; and tilted to conform approximately to the slope of the surface on which it is to be left.

It is to be understood that the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings are exemplary only and that the invention is susceptible to variation and modifilcation within the spirit and scope of the subjoined c arms.

Having thus set forth our invention, we claim:

1. In a portable hoist, in combination, a vehicle having a cab, a pair of continuous unjointed rails, means on said vehicle for supporting said rails in substantially horizontal position with portions of said rails lying closely above said cab, said supporting means preventing said rails from crushing said cab, a carriage adapted to travel along said rails, a hoisting fork carried by said carriage and means for orienting said hoisting fork to conform to surfaces upon which it is to deposit loads or from which it is to pick up loads, said means comprising a hydraulic device for selectively tilting said rails fore or aft and hydraulic devices for selectively tilting said rails to the right or the left relatively to the rear-end of said vehicle.

2. In a portable hoist, in combination, a motor vehicle having a cab, a pair of uprights fixed to said motor vehicle between said cab and the rear end of said motor vehicle, a pair of struts hinged to said pair of uprights, a pair of rails fixed to said pair of struts to be swung with said pair of struts from horizontal to vertical position and vice versa, the height of said pair of uprights and its location on said motor vehicle and the length of said pair of struts being such that when said pair of rails is in its horizontal position it extends fore and aft with its forward portion lying just above said cab and such that said pair of rails when swung to vertical position stands adjacent the rear end of said motor vehicle, a carriage constructed and arranged to travel along said pair of rails, a cable connected to said carriage, a crosspiece extending between said pair of rails, a pulley mounted on said crosspiece, said cable taking over said pulley, a winch mounted upon said motor vehicle and means to rotate said winch to wind up and pay out said cable and thereby move said carriage upwardly and downwardly when said pair of rails is standing vertically.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,531,982 Sago Mar. 31, 1925 2,126,289 Schroeder Aug. 9, 1938 2,241,275 Shinn et al. May 6, 1941 2,258,383 Haniquet Oct. 7, 1941 2,527,928 Heath Oct. 31, 1950 2,542,425 Oliver Feb. 20, 1951 2,625,278 Sensenbaugh Jan. 13, 1953 2,652,164 Tipps Sept. 15, 1953 2,660,268 Selberg Nov. 24, 1953 2,677,476 Bebinger May 4, 1954 

